1965 front caliper clearance issue with Cragar s/s mags.

[Steve65]

I'm thinking of installing Cragar S/S wheels on my 1965 Thunderbird. I have a set already, but the front calipers hit the mags. I also have some old wheel adaptors that move the wheel out enough to clear the wheel, but those adaptors hit the inside of the calipers. Has anyone had this issue, found a good adaptor to correct this? I'm thinking of buying new direct fit Cragar's that fit without adaptors if that's possible. Any suggested adaptors or comments would be appreciated.

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[Old Marine]

I feel for you. Did you purchase those Cragar's new? Type in guide to wheel offset in old Google and look under the Tire Rack advertisement. They have a very good visual illustration of wheel offset. This may help you understand your problem a little better.

 

[aa010175]

I had the same problem with my 15” wires on my 1962 Cadillac that has front disk brakes conversion. I ground down the high spots on the calipers. There lots of excess pored casting that can be trimmed (ground) off.

 

[Steve65]

Thanks for the comments, guys. I did as mentioned above and used a die grinder and only had to remove a very small amount of material on the inside of the calipers to make the adaptors clear. I did my research and purchased 15 x 7" Cragar S/S direct fit mags. There seemed to be no way to use Cragars without the 1/2" spacer adaptors up front. The track is widened but there is plenty of room in the front wheel wells. The 7" mags have a 4" backspace where the 6" only have 3.3" but 0 offset on both, the 7 do stick out about 1/2" more than the 6" mags. Not a big deal unless you are running rear fender skirts (with no spacers there of course). I ended up rolling a small area of the fender skirts to provide adequate clearance there. I really like the look of these wheels on my Tbird.